Last Sunday I received another invitation to a blogger meet up at Marugame Udon & Tempura, Gandaria City, UG Floor, at the end of Mainstreet district. This is the second Marugame Udon in Jakarta, the first one at Taman Anggrek Mall already open from beginning of 2013. 

Marugame Udon as the first udon & tempura restaurant franchise in Indonesia surely bring a new atmosphere to our culinary world. From the name you can tell directly where it came from, Japan. With it's open kitchen concept we can see through all the process from dough making, boiling the udon, preparing the udon according to customer's order, tempura frying and serving. All the ingredients are fresh and halal. In fact if the noodle already boiled after more then 15 minutes they will not serve it to us, they immediately boil a new noodle instead to maintain the freshness. Marugame Udon with it self service concept always provide freshly cooked food so customers can freely pick their favorite udon and tempura. Started from choosing your base udon or rice menu, then picking the tempura yourself, get the drinks, pay at the cashier, add and mix your own sauce, eating your meal, then return all the empty plates and cup to the provided place. It is a fast eating experience, just like in Japan that require high mobility in their daily life.

For the udon, that day I tried Mentai Kamatama Udon and Kamaage Udon. And chose Beef Croquette, Egg Tempura, Broccoli Tempura, and Kakiage (tempura from mixed vegetable strips) for the tempura. They all taste great, but for my taste I would personally recommend Mentai Kamatama Udon and Beef Croquette. Mentai Kamatama with caviar, soft-boiled egg, special sauce plus the mild taste from Beef Croquette as the tempura, a great combination indeed. A reminder if you order Kamaage or Zaru, don't eat directly from the udon bowl, you have to take out the udon and eat it in the dipping sauce bowl. And if you don't like half raw food don't choose Egg Tempura, cause the egg soft-boiled.

Okay, for the closing thank you Marugame Udon especially Edwin and Eka for inviting me to this event and thank you to Yenny and Tika for the opportunity. And for you who haven't try Marugame Udon or just want to eat more, you should come and join the fun. Don't forget there's free Marugame Udon Pouch just for sharing your moments in Marugame Gandaria City. All you need is to mention @MarugameUdonID with hashtag #FreshUdonTempura and #MarugameGancit in Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or Foursquare. So come, eat and share your moment at Marugame Udon Gandaria City...! Until then... ^-^

Last weekend my friends and I tried a new place to hang out while planning our trip together for this September. Why we picked Dante Coffee Shop to meet up mostly because of the free Wi-Fi for browsing, booking our tickets and hotels, chatting, and so on. Second of all because the place looks cozy. I was the first one to arrive on that day, because of the location is pretty near from my house. You just need to accross from Central Park to Tribeca Park GF #05 near escalator.

Dante Coffee is a Taiwan franchise coffee shop. "Dante" itself was adopted from famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri who wrote “Divine Comedy” a poem that considered as the greatest work of world literature. The name was chosen to show the founder’s passion and devotion in providing high quality of coffee and introducing coffee shop concept in Taiwanese market and across to other countries nowadays.

The place consist of indoor and outdoor shop, if you like cool atmosphere you better sit inside the coffee shop. But if you're fine with the sub tropic weather you can try to sit outside while enjoying the view and people passing by. And that day I tried both of them, at first I sat outside but after my notebook disconnected and the battery is running out. We decided to move inside the coffee shop for better wi-fi coverage while charging my notebook.

Here, I finally able to taste what a Caramel Milk Tea is. I've always wonder for this drink since I read a manga goes with the same title "Caramel Milk Tea". And...after my first sip I fell in love in a jiffy, the taste is mild and sweet but not to sweet. No wonder the character in the manga try so hard to make a good caramel milk tea. To fill my stomach I choose Cheesy Potato Wedges, why? Because I'm a potato wedges fan, just as simple as that.

With the cozy environment inside nor outside you can spend hours at Dante Coffee Shop, like we did that day. There's also a private room if you're going to held a private meeting here. Overall this is a good place for gathering while enjoying your food and drinks. See you all until my next review... ^-^